Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

Since the changeover in the office of the President, there was no State of the Union speech scheduled for this year. Usually, however, the incoming President is invited to address a joint session of Congress soon after taking office to offer to the legislative branch their ideas for the upcoming year – an unofficial SOTU, so to speak. This has been a common occurrence in the past couple of newly elected presidents.

President George W. Bush, after a brutal contest with then-Vice President Al Gore and the resulting legal entanglements that ensued afterwards, looked to display to the States of America that he was ready to work with people and get beyond the polarization of the political parties in his address in 2001 (whether he would have done that or not became immaterial following 9/11 – Dubya kicked the military war machine into overdrive after that and said “fuck the Kumbaya shit”). President Barack Obama, facing the near-collapse of the worldwide economic system, calmly explained to the people in his 2009 address that the country would rebound from the brink of another Great Depression and he was proven correct – but not so correct that the GOP would work with him to help in pursuing those goals. So, the question becomes what can we expect out of The Resident tonight?

If his conduct over the past three months – the two since the election and the one since he plopped his fat ass in the chair in the White House – is any indication, he isn’t going to do a goddamn thing. Since being voted in by a MINORITY of the people in this country, he’s done literally nothing except sign meaningless Executive Orders that are about as effective as the toilet paper they’re written on. How meaningless? How about “The Wall,” where there has been little more than “direction” given to build it. The Border Act of 2007, and the 700 miles of fencing allotted at that time, has been completed by Obama no less; to build any more will require passing it through Congress. Deregulating coal? All that has done is made conditions worse for the workers and the citizens downstream from coal plants that can now dump their toxic sludge in the rivers.

The immigration ban? Besides the laughable actions of the Confederacy of Dunces trying to put that one over pretty every single government organization that would oversee implementing it, the Judicial branch of government hammered The Resident like a copper-headed nail in ruling the ban unconstitutional (and expect the same again for his second run as he hasn’t demonstrated any threat). He’s seen two prospective Secretaries of the armed forces (Phillip Bilden for the Navy, Vincent Viola for the Army) withdraw, his choice for Labor secretary Andrew Puzder also withdrawing (because The Resident’s OWN PARTY had problems with him), had to force his choice for chief national security advisor, Michael Flynn, to resign (rather than fire him) over his interactions with Russian government officials and BARELY got through his choices for Education Secretary (who just recently commented that historically black colleges and universities were a “great example of school choice”), Attorney General (despite being rejected for a federal judgeship in the 1980s because he was a racist) and head of the Treasury (despite accepting every bailout offered following the crash of 2008 for Goldman Sachs, the very institution that The Resident lied about “putting out of business” if he were elected during the campaign).

Nearly every day since his pitiful inauguration – with its miniscule crowd, a 16-year old with a transgender sister who sang the National Anthem only to get slapped in the face by reality when “her hero” dropped rights for LGBTQ peoples like a homophobe, and balls that copied cakes from the Obama Inauguration – there has been some bullshit flow from The Resident. If it isn’t his constant insistence that he would have won the popular vote if it weren’t for “illegal voters” (absolutely no evidence has been shown for this), that Obama is “behind” the protestors at GOP Congressional members in their home districts (shown to be false as people show their voter IDs) or his continued Tweetstorms every time something twists his panties into a wad (Saturday Night Live, Arnold Schwarzenegger), then it is his Dunces stepping to the fore (Kellyanne ConJob’s “alternative facts” and “full endorsement” of Flynn mere hours before his dismissal, Sean “Spicey” Spicer’s examination of underlings phones to make sure they weren’t “leaking” information, Stephen Miller’s one-time Neo-Nazi display on the Sunday morning talkers, etc.) to take their turn in the barrel.

Another demonstration of ignorance by The Resident has been in “dismantling” ObamaCare. Besides the factor that NO ONE in the GOP can come up with a plan that does what ObamaCare does for cheaper – or protects as many people as the current plan does – in the previous eight years, you then have The Resident commenting that “nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” After they stopped rolling on the floor in laughter, pretty much anyone involved in government since Richard Nixon could have informed this idiot that it wasn’t as quick as a sweep of a pen.

Then there’s his “love” of the military. Since he loves them so much, he sent an assault team into Yemen – utilizing intel that was well over a month old – which led to the death of a SEAL, William Owens, and many civilian casualties. His father, Bill Owens, has demanded an investigation into the clusterfuck that led to his son’s death and the ineptitude of The Resident, who ordered the action. Add in removing the protection that military members had for their spouses should they be undocumented immigrants and he’s demonstrating his love wholeheartedly.

The Resident has also shown the inability to call out situations that HE created and no one else. The murder of one Indian man and wounding of a second in Kansas by a white StormTrumper barely brought a guffaw out of The Resident, especially after the perpetrator allegedly said, “Get out of my country,” as he shot them down. Several Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated, once again due to the racial animosity promoted by The Resident, with nary a note of care but money raised by Muslims to restore the headstones demonstrating compassion. A white StormTrumper in Canada goes on a shooting rampage in a mosque – crickets. But let a Muslim with a knife try to attack in Paris and The Resident is all over it, stating it is “radical Islamic terrorism,” even though his third choice for the job (his second, General Robert Harward, turned down the job he described as a “shit sandwich”), General H. R. McMaster, has said this is “not helpful.”

Finally, there’s the continued Chinese Water Torture that has become the Russian situation and their involvement in the 2016 election for The Resident and the ongoing battle with the press. Despite plenty of evidence otherwise, The Resident – who also doesn’t like intelligence briefings that don’t support his mindset – has steadfastly remained devoted to his BFB Vladimir Putin. And as the press closes in on more evidence that there was involvement by The Resident’s staff with Russian intelligence agents, he and his subordinates attempt to silence the press by shutting them off from access. Attempts to silence the press will only further embolden them, much like those who oppose this shitstain.

So now we are on the precipice of The Resident’s address to Congress and the country. How difficult would it be for him to show some humility, some common intelligence and sense, and come out with an opening statement of “I haven’t done the job correctly…yet. I am not going to complete all I said I would do, but I am going to ensure that EVERYONE in the country has the protection of all governmental agencies and that we are all safe in our homeland.” The answer is it would be extremely difficult for this narcissistic, xenophobic bastard to be able to show an ounce of humility even once.

Expect this evening to be a continuation of the bullshit rallies (that are remarkably familiar to a time in our recent past) that The Resident has continued to hold, even though he won the 2016 election. Expect more about how well the administration is doing – despite every iota of evidence that shows it is a burning tire fire of immense proportions – and that he’s “going to bring jobs back” that have been disappearing for 40 years and won’t ever come back or he’s going to “keep out the bad dudes” and “attack ISIS” because he has “a secret plan” (yeah, remember that one?). And expect the sycophants – those in the Confederacy of Dunces and those who voted for him that still cling to him like a toddler on a teat, expecting him to provide salvation where none exists – to continue to spout off on social media about how he will “make ‘Merica great again.”

The sad reality is that this evening’s charade in Washington D. C. will be a fucking puppet with the hand of Putin up his ass speaking to a gathering of those who will only tolerate him until it isn’t worth their time to do so anymore. The Resident will spout rhetoric about “rebuilding a military (that doesn’t need rebuilding)” that he so desperately wants to use, like a child playing with Army figures except in this case it is actual lives on the line. He’ll spout about how he’s “helping” by ending ObamaCare, except that people now want it left alone. And he’ll find, once no more XOs can be written, once no one else can be bullied by his charlatan actions on Twitter and he finds out he has to actually come up with ideas to govern by, perhaps he’ll rethink his main henchman Steve Bannon’s intents for the country he “says” he supposedly loves.

Barely three weeks into his station as the leader of the States of America, The Resident is faced with the resignation of his national security advisor, former General Michael Flynn, regarding “inaccurate information” that Flynn gave to the Vice Resident regarding his conversations with diplomats from foreign countries. Particularly, it was Flynn’s “discussions” with a member of the Russian government regarding governmental actions (sanctions against Russia imposed by then-President Barack Obama for tampering with the 2016 election process and Flynn’s statement during those talks that the sanctions would be reversed) that forced the former General to “resign” his position (and anyone who believes that Flynn tossed himself on the sword and “resigned,” you’re so cute with your naivete).

Honestly, it started before this. Everyone seems to forget that The Resident’s choice for the Secretary of the Army, Vincent Viola, ten days ago withdrew from consideration for the position, citing his inability to meet the vetting process. Viola admitted in his statement of withdrawal that he could not cut all his business ties – as necessary for government employees OTHER than being the President – to meet the criteria of the position.

Therefore, Flynn is the second domino to fall in the Confederacy of Dunces. The question is who is next and how far will it go?

National security is arguably one of the biggest issues for a President and his staff to handle. There are a multitude of approaches, nuances and protocols that must be followed or literally the shit will hit the fan regarding our foreign policy approach (remember the uproar over The Resident taking a phone call from Taiwan?) and the security of the country. But this doesn’t seem to be important to The Resident and his Confederacy of Dunces.

Just this last weekend, The Resident used his own business, his Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida, to serve as a base of operation with the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe by his side. While seated on the terrace of the resort – and with a patio full of guests and members who paid as much as $200,000 to be a “member” (and you’re going to tell me The Resident isn’t using his new position to make money? That’s double what it was before he was elected…) – the news came down that North Korea had test-fired a missile in the direction of the Prime Minister’s nation. What happened next is unheard of…that is, if “national security” is one of your major concerns regarding governance.

Right that moment – and in full view of people who took many photos of the gathering and POSTED THEM TO FACEBOOK (since deleted) – The Resident’s people cracked out intelligence on the launch to examine the information, discussing the situation openly not only in front of an ally at the table but in a GODDAMNED ROOM of people who didn’t need to be party to the discussion. At no point did the party try to move the highly sensitive discussion to another room or area to talk over things IN PRIVATE.

Add this in with the idiocy of deciding to take a military action in Yemen over dinner with several people completely incompetent to make such decisions (including his son-in-law Jared Kushner), these actions are just the latest in the litany of idiocy that The Resident, his administration, and his hand-picked staff have thrust upon the people of this country.

The problem is that we’ve never received an answer on The Resident’s dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia. Why does it seem that, every time a situation comes up, all avenues lead back to The Resident and his alleged involvement with Putin and the Russian leadership? Throughout the campaign – and in a complete 180 from virtually any person who had knowledge of Russo-American relations – The Resident treated Putin like a buddy. Before and after the election, The Resident continued to treat Putin with more respect than the intelligence agencies of his OWN COUNTRY, to the point of comparing the intelligence services to “Nazis.” Even now, The Resident defends Mother Russia – he REALLY didn’t want to get rid of Flynn, reports state.

Just how much of the dossier put together by former MI6 operative Christopher Steele is factual? The entirety of Steele’s research on Flynn proved to be accurate. So, is that the only part of it that is actually true (highly unlikely)? Much of what Steele found has been corroborated by other sources, a highly treasonous situation if there is one – a campaign knowingly working with a foreign government to earn them a seat.

Second, if there ever were a case of “the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing,” there seems to be a constant state of crisis around this administration. The chaos that emanates from the administration – even with something as small as how to move on a particular piece of their platform – is unprecedented (“unpresidented?”) in that the people who should know something know nothing about their own departments. This is something allegedly pushed by The Resident himself, who reportedly loves to see infighting.

The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?

Third, what did The Resident know about Flynn and others, but he still put them in positions of power in his administration? Just how far was he prepared to let it go if the pressures didn’t make it unfeasible for Flynn to keep his position? When did The Resident know about Flynn and why did he ignore it until apparently now? Just how far is The Resident willing to let his arrogant ignorance go before it damages the country, or has he already ceded control to his lackeys and their kleptomania for the destruction of the nation? The time is not now to worry about “leaks” from YOUR OWN PEOPLE.

Finally, there is the fact that, for all the bluster that has come from this administration, there is literally NOTHING that has been done. The “Muslim ban” that wasn’t one? Shot down as unconstitutional by the Judicial branch of government. Repealing “ObamaCare?” Other than a missive in the form of an Executive Order that instructed federal departments to not enforce penalties on those who violate the act, there has been no movement in Congress because THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO. The “Wall?” There isn’t any more that can be done beyond the Secure Fence Act that Obama finished off without passing new legislation. The XOs put through by The Resident have been the epitome of the Shakespearian quote “Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Three weeks in…two dismissals, a host of others that can’t handle the “big stage” (Kellyanne ConJob’s “alternative facts,” Sean Spicer’s daily impersonation of Melissa McCarthy, et. al.), a puppet master in White House chief strategist Steve Bannon pulling the strings (and his protégé Stephen Miller’s chilling “know the power of the President” speech) and the growing white nationalists cabal that Bannon is bringing along…it is becoming problematic. The national security issues may be the most apparent issues right now, but there is plenty more to take a look at.

Barely a week into his tenure in the White House (and a SHORT one it should be), the GOP nominee has literally been the “bull in the china shop” with disastrous actions that are too numerous to mention here. He has enacted his draconian viewpoint of the world, including the dismantling of ObamaCare (with no plan to replace it, leaving 30 million in the lurch), building the border wall against Mexico (at the States of America’s taxpayers expense; Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has already canceled a state visit because Cheeto Jesus thought it was to discuss Mexico paying for it), and a variety of other items that have run from populous (he might be the ONLY stupid ass to believe that he won the popular vote – and get ready, he’s ready to use taxpayer money on HIS OWN FUCKING CRUSADE to investigate it) to fascist (you DON’T tell departments of the government they can have NO CONTACT with the people – it’s not a business, it is a GOVERNMENT office that is supposed to respond to the people). What has been the question many are asking is who will be the first to stand up to the bullying buffoon (not counting Nieto…sorry, you lost your cred by talking to him during the 2016 campaign).

If you’re thinking that the politicians are going to stand up, you’re fooling yourself. The Democrats are literally rebuilding their “brand” and, short of being able to block some legislation in the Senate (due to the GOP’s bastardly racial gerrymandering (as ruled unconstitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court) of districts from 2010 that has basically made House of Representative elections in the States a worthless endeavor), they really are trying to reconstruct to have some sort of impact in 2018. The GOP? Please excuse me while I pick myself up from a laughing heap on the floor…the GOP is going to use every opportunity that this cretin presents to ram their agenda through. Of course, there’s always that thought that, once they get the things they want, they’ll eject the GOP nominee through what would essentially be a palace coup and install one of their own – a person so heinous that he believes you can use shock therapy on someone to move them from gay to straight – into the Presidency.

Besides, if anyone in the political spectrum was going to stand up to this pile of shit, they would have stopped him in the GOP primaries or the General Election.

Other countries might be the ones to call the GOP nominee’s bluff, but it is a tenuous thing. Nieto’s move may be just the start in a cacophony of rebuttals by nations who, quite honestly, might just tell the GOP nominee to go fuck himself. While it might hurt them, the Chinese aren’t exactly going to buckle under if he blusters on about how they should run their currency, what they should do with their military or other weighty and serious issues. Putin even will reach a point where the GOP nominee becomes a liability rather than comedic relief and will cut him loose. And let’s not even get into our OTHER allies (that’s right…Russia and China are SUPPOSED to be allies) who might be willing to work with our country and the crackpot at the top but aren’t ready to work with a cannon that is looser than a 60-year old whore in Thailand.

Will it be business? Boy, you have a future in stand-up comedy if you keep firing zingers like that! Besides the oligarchy that is in virtually every Cabinet position, there are more businessman running things in this Administration than you would find…well, in that whorehouse in Thailand. Secondly, these bloodsuckers aren’t interested in the future of the democracy or the ability of the country to function as the leader of the free world. As long as the stock ticker goes up (and, let’s be honest, this could be some of the citizens as well due to their dependencies on 401(k) accounts based on the markets), as long as the balance sheet shows a profit and as long as government isn’t hammering on them, they could give a fuck about which party or person is in charge in the White House, even if they’re standing over a smoking heap at the end of it all.

Perhaps, though, we’ve seen who will be the first harbingers of resistance to the scourge in Washington. The Million Woman March – which featured men and kids too, but whatever – has been estimated at anywhere from 2.9 million to 4 million strong, if you count the different groups that rallied around the world and not just in D. C. on the Saturday immediately following the inauguration. Such areas as Chicago (250,000, enough that they couldn’t march but still held the rally), Los Angeles (100,000), Atlanta (63,000), Seattle (100,000) and Austin (50,000) coincided with the D. C. march, where an estimated 500,000 marchers dwarfed the miniscule efforts of the tiny-handed one and his pitiful gathering.

Before we lay the banner of the salvation of the country at the feet of those who took part in the multitude of marches, however, we’ve got to see some staying power. One of the things that kills a movement faster than anything else is a lackadaisical attitude – a “we did it!” victory lap, if you must – and then not turning out again when it is necessary (say, Election Day 2018). There is another day of marches and protests set for April 15 – Tax Day, or the ritual screwing of the citizens of this country by the government – and let’s see these types of numbers again. If they show up, then we’ve got a movement; if not, then we’ve got to try something else.

As far as myself, I’m going to see what that April 15 march is like where I live. I’m going to continue to hammer on that shiny copper nail head that sits on his tuches and believes he is the Emperor. I’m going to call out those that blindly support him. I’m going to continue to speak through essay as to his worthlessness, inadequacy, and lack of qualifications for the job (and the country) he’s crapping on. Those of you who say “wait and see?” I don’t need to wait and see…and if you “wait and see” too long, there might not be something by that time worth fighting over.

It’s only going to get worse from here. As of this afternoon – because of the direct words and actions by this imbecile along with the fervent nationalistic fervor that is eating at the innards of many countries governments like a rabid tapeworm – atomic scientists in charge of the Doomsday Clock moved it to its closest point since 1953. Let’s hope that “midnight hour” doesn’t strike anytime soon.

We are now only two weeks from the inauguration of the GOP nominee to the Presidency of this country. Despite all his proclamations and statements that he would “become more presidential,” “Tweet less” and/or “conduct himself like an adult human being instead of a petulant child” (OK, I made that one up), the GOP nominee has shown instead that nothing will change as to his narcissistic, fascist behavior – indeed, it has been displayed more often since he was elected. Meanwhile, while the GOP nominee continues to flex his tiny fingers for his next Tweet, the Kakistocratic Circus has landed in Washington, D. C.

With the start of the New Year, the 115th Congress was seated at the start of this week. But the idiocrats (and, for those of you without a dictionary handy or, if you’re a member of the Republican Party, a working vocabulary, a “kakistocracy” is a government by the least qualified or most unprincipled members of society) in the GOP didn’t bother to wait until they were actually sworn in. On January 2 – the Monday PRIOR to their indoctrination into the Congress – the GOP decided to take away much of the power of the only NONPARTISAN Congressional oversight group in the House, the Office of Congressional Ethics, essentially making them a lapdog of the GOP. This was thwarted by the outrage that IMMEDIATELY set upon Capitol Hill from indignant citizens from across the States of America and, when the vote came up, the movement to enact the changes against the OCE was mysteriously gone.

That has only been the start of the Circus. Those that supported the orange-hued stain on the human condition are only now coming to the realization, “OOPS! We didn’t think this vote through clearly!” The predominance of states that have utilized the Affordable Care Act – “ObamaCare” – seems to be those states that the GOP nominee won. Voters for the GOP nominee now aren’t so enthused about dropping the ACA, especially since it provided most of them for the first time with insurance coverage (it has never been about health CARE, it has always been about health COVERAGE).

That sudden epiphany that the voters for the Orangutan Mutant have had – that their vote for him will take away something that is very intrinsic in their lives – doesn’t even begin to step into such areas as balancing the budget (which they were SOOOO fucking concerned with during the Obama Administration), taking care of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security (which Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has squarely in his sights), or other areas that might have some impact in their lives (you might think they would have thought about this previous to the election…now you know why they’re called the Ignorati).

That wasn’t the highlight of the first week of the new Congress – and the incoming arrival of the GOP nominee – and their dual ineptitude. The ongoing reveal of the activity of the Russian government’s intelligence services in the 2016 General Election seemed to unveil new layers to the Onion of Ignorance that the GOP nominee and his party have become. First, he mercilessly bashed many different components of the country – the intelligence services themselves, the current Administration, and several others – siding with Russian dictator president Vladimir Putin, rather than defending the investigations and resulting actions of this very country. By that act alone – and by those that support his statements – the GOP nominee has shown himself to be a treasonous bastard rather than some sort of “patriot” (and the same applies to the Ignorati who support him).

Secondly, in concert with his bootlicking of Putin came his unwavering support of the fugitive (he’s wanted by Swedish police for interrogation over claims of raping two Swedish women) Julian Assange. Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who has spent the last five years in the Ecuador embassy in London to avoid this investigation, stated that the WikiLeaked documents did not come DIRECTLY from the Russian hackers (note the emphasis there). The GOP nominee used this as “evidence” to suggest that he was correct (the “super-secret information” he alluded to that “no one else had”), despite the fact that, in 2010, he wanted Assange killed for his actions in leaking the information provided by then-PFC Bradley Manning (now Chelsea and now jailed in Leavenworth).

Not to be outdone in the idiocy parade, the rest of the GOP finally got in on the action at the end of the week. Instead of responsibly bringing up each of the nominees for the different Cabinet positions that the GOP nominee has named for individual consideration, the GOP will look to tyrannically push through the nominees by cluster-bombing their nomination hearings. Next Wednesday – not unintended that it will be the same day that the GOP nominee gives his first press conference in OVER TWO MONTHS – SIX different Cabinet nominees will have their hearings in the House.

Why this tactic? The GOP is looking to brush under the carpet not only the inadequacies that every one of these fucking nominees have, they are also looking to minimize the likelihood of the corruption and “other” activities (stock ownership, “pay for play” politics, the factor that you were refused a seat as a federal judge because your OWN PARTY thought you were a racist bastard) dominating the news cycle. It is a cowardly action by a thoroughly disgusting party, plain and simple.

Finally (and without blinking twice), House GOP members enacted a 130-year old bill that could potentially cut federal employees’ pay to $1 an hour. The Holman Rule, named after an Indiana congressman from 1876, was brought back to life by Virginia Representative H. Morgan Griffith and gives any member of Congress the right to propose amending appropriations bills to single out government employees for a pay cut or cut the spending to a particular program. It is a blatant attack on the civil employees who make up the backbone of the federal government and a further demonstration of the scuzziness of the GOP.

All of this goes on while the GOP circle-jerks what they’re going to do with the Affordable Care Act – fuck the fact they have no plan for replacement so that 20 to 30 million people lose their health coverage – and defund Planned Parenthood over abortion, which makes up only 3% of their total activities (with the rest covering such subjects as pregnancy prevention, women’s health tests such as mammograms and education on STDs) and of which ZERO federal dollars go to support (by law). If you want an example of what happens when the proverbial dog catches the car and doesn’t know what the hell to do with it, look at the U. S. government in action.

So, what can the Democrats do about it? Not a goddamn thing. In the next two weeks, this will all become the Kakistocratic Circus’ baby, their ride, and as they drive the Express Train to Hell, we can already hear them screaming about how the Dems won’t work with them. To that I say: fuck them. That’s what they did for eight years under Obama and it is time to see how that works on the other side. You can only hope that the Kakistocratic Circus doesn’t completely destroy the country this time instead of coming up short as they did in 2008.

And what about those who voted for the Cheeto Jesus? You’re just as culpable as Der Fuhrer is. You can change your mind, however, if you are so intent on “holding him accountable and voting elsewhere if he fails.” If the last goddamn two months aren’t proof of his total ineptitude and inability to be President (the bastard Tweets about Saturday Night Live and their portrayal of him; you know what President Barack Obama is doing? Writing a 50-plus page dissertation on criminal justice reform for the Harvard Law Review, becoming the first President to do so), then you either support the GOP nominee wholeheartedly or you’re a lying bastard that “if he does something wrong, I won’t support him.” It is time you who brought about this nightmare are held accountable.

It’s time that the 60 million or so who voted for the stain on the human condition to admit that they were wrong. Then they can step up and fight this embarrassment to the country on every front alongside those who saw the con job from the start. If they don’t – if they stick with the refrain of “let’s give him a chance” (one that wasn’t afforded Obama, I might add) – then they shall be held as guilty as the incoming administration will be when the bastardization of this country begins. If they can admit they were wrong, we might then begin to reach some sort of détente in the political battles in the States of America.

The Middle East is a powder keg of differing religions, different religious factions and different viewpoints on pretty much everything, including whether the sky is blue or not. Many in the United States and Europe, far removed from the turbulent area, think that it is the issues between the Muslims and the nation of Israel that are the major problems. Far from it…the major problems are between the Muslims themselves.

Much like Christianity in Europe and the U. S., there are different factions when you discuss the Muslim faith. In Christianity, you can be Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist or Protestant…the list is quite lengthy. Each of the sects has their own particular take on the subject of God, Jesus, the Bible and how to worship as a whole. The same can be said for Muslims as well; there are the Sunnis, the Shias, the Kharijte and the Kurds, and each of those sects have their own subdivisions to make it even more confusing. And, much like Christianity in the Middle Ages (and some would argue even today), the Muslim sects fight with each other, albeit between the Muslims it is a legitimate life or death fight, not one of simply words.

The civil war in Syria is a synopsis of the problems in the Middle East. Three different sects, the Sunnis (the Islamic State – call them ISIL, ISIS or IS), the Kurds and the Shias (some from Iran), battling for control of one of the richest supplies of oil in the world, destroying their own lands and people over the past 4½ years to the point that refugees are fleeing from the country while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad plays the role of Nero. The warfare in Syria is of the utmost cruelty: gas bombs, poison and nerve gases, phosphorous weaponry and a variety of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These weapons are used most frequently, but the armies of all the combatants can simply walk into a village and execute its male population. As Syria continues to burn, the world has simply watched and, with the refugee situation, it cannot watch much longer.

Since the beginning of 2015, the United Nations estimates that 366,000 refugees have left Syria and Iraq, heading for Europe for a new beginning. There are plenty of problems with this situation. The situation is in the Middle East, but few nations in that area are stepping up to take on some responsibility to help a neighboring country. Nations like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey or even Iran have not even stepped forward to welcome refugees into their countries, content to sit back and watch even further while al-Assad continues to murder his own people and IS continues to destroy the remainder of the country. This refusal to assist in lessening the tragedy leads to desperate people making desperate moves.

Without the ability to remain even close to their own region, many refugees are heading for Europe by any means necessary. Europe – and in particular Germany – have welcoming regulations when it comes to those who are politically oppressed or are leaving war-torn areas, but the issue is getting to Germany or one of these other nations. Over the weekend, the nation of Hungary, which has accepted roughly 130,000 asylum requests (of which roughly 38,000 were Syrian, according to the Wall Street Journal) was the roadblock, holding up thousands of refugees to the point where many Syrians started walking rather than waiting for transportation. The reason for Hungary’s decision to block the refugees? Fears of the refugees being sent back to Hungary once they reach another European Union country and they are not allowed entry (under the rules of the European Union, a member nation can send a refugee back to the last EU nation they went through if they are not allowed asylum).

The problem that Europe is facing regarding the influx of Syrians is twofold. First, the sheer number of incoming refugees means that several nations are going to have to step up and take on an appropriate number of the refugees. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Germany can handle a certain number of refugees but that, in the future, other countries would have to be willing to allow the refugees into their countries without issue. France is refusing to allow refugees inside its borders, fortifying their defenses with more troops and catching refuges as they try to cross and sending them back to Italy, while Greece (having its own issues since its near default on its financial debt earlier this year with the European Union) hasn’t stepped forward either.

The second issue is a matter of security in the countries where Syrians are headed. Analysts with the Central Intelligence Agency have stated that the potential for terrorists to embed themselves with the true Syrian refugees is quite realistic, even to the point that it is “conceivable” that a terrorist attack could occur in Europe within the next few months from someone that is a part of the Syrian refugee situation. While we would like to think that this isn’t possible, it is a potential reason why the United States hasn’t stepped up further itself other than humanitarian aid in the region and one that has to be in the minds of security officials in the European Union also.

The main thing that many are overlooking is that more could have been done from the start of the conflict. Instead of looking for resolutions, many saw an opportunity to remove a powerful dictator from power (al-Assad is the only leader who survived the “Arab Spring” protests of 2011, watching as Libya, Egypt and other countries saw their leaders toppled). When that dictator stepped over the line in using poison gas on his own people, world governments failed to keep the dictator in check and do anything about it (potentially President Barack Obama’s biggest mistake in his term in the White House) or allowed it to continue through denying it even existed (Vladimir Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China catch the blame here). Now we have a situation in Syria that is volatile at the least and a threat to the world’s security at its extreme.

The images on our television screens may seem far away as those Syrians who are looking for a new home, a new opportunity or even a new life traipse across a continent far from their homes, but something should be felt and done for the people who haven’t asked for anything like this to happen to them. The deaths of men, women and children while trying to flee the ravages of war shouldn’t be happening, nor should the villainous charlatans who fleece these people and then leave them to sickness or death in a truck or a cargo hold of a ship (those bastards just need to be executed). We also need to see what we can do as people, even for those who may not think like us religiously or philosophically…the first step to bringing the world together would be to get beyond simple divisions such as skin color or religion and look at each other as we truly are, flesh and blood humans looking for the best for our family’s futures or for the best out of life.